It’s Time to Take It… In!

Good morning, or afternoon, or evening, Victorious Living family. I am Christi Overton-Johnson, the host of More Victorious Living and also the founder of Victorious Living magazine, and actually God was the founder of it, but He entrusted it to me to steward and has put this amazing team around me and put me in a place, the Community of Corrections, that I never dreamed I'd be, but I'm so thankful He put me there. One of my greatest joys is coming on these tablets, through these broadcasts, to be able to share beautiful places with you, but also beautiful things that God is showing me. And I just want to thank you for watching, I also want to remind you that there are so many ways that you can go deeper than this study, and deeper in this study. There's PDFs and Bible studies that we create. We also have a correspondence team that you can write to and ask questions. We have a care line that you can call and get prayer, and even talk about some of the things that we're talking about. We also do events, and of course we have our magazine. And at the end of this broadcast you will see all the opportunities to connect with our ministry. We're not a perfect ministry, but we do try with all of our heart to be authentic and to respond and to honor God and honor you, and honor the space where you are, the authority. So with that, I am wanting to bring you to my favorite place. This really is one of my favorite, I say my favorite place in one of my favorite places. I'd say this is probably my favorite place to come, to get alone, and I'm bringing you here with me. The lighting is not great this morning. I have not got a stitch of nothing on. I did brush my teeth. But I'm just out. It's just me. It's God. It's the seagulls and the waves. And this is at the end, let me see if I can get this around.

This is at the end of an island, and I love coming here because it is as far as you can, well, I can't quite get as far. If I didn't have my tennis shoes on and my pants on, I would be walking on out there to see how far I can get before it just ends into the Atlantic Ocean. And this morning, I was walking and I was looking down at the beautiful sand and all of that, and I was looking for some shells, and I'm looking for things that are beautiful that I can take. Woo! This is not beautiful. So, anyway, you can tell I'm not super vain, good Lord, it's getting worse. Okay, ignore all of this, try to see my heart, all right? But here's something that came to me this morning. I'm walking, I'm looking down, and I'm trying to find something to take for me. I'm trying to find, you know what I want to find is a diamond ring, because I know somebody out here has lost one, or some kind of piece of jewelry, and I'm like, Lord, this will be from you. I haven't found it yet, I've been looking for decades, but I'm still looking. So every time I go, my eyes are open for a little bling bling, it's open for shells, it's open for driftwood, sometimes you'll find glasses. It's fun to see what can I find down here and what can I take, because it's for the taken. Yesterday, I had my husband, it was our anniversary, which reminds me, today is my daughter's birthday, but it was our anniversary, and I said, baby, I just want a piece of that big old driftwood, go get it for me, and he just shook his head, but hey, it was a free gift that he could go get for me. So he did it, he jumped right on, he goes, ooh, I got her anniversary gift. But anyway, this morning I was walking, and instead, you know, I didn't find anything, I found things, but I left it, I'm like, I got plenty of shells, that kind of stuff. And all of a sudden, I looked up, and the sun, and just the water, and all the seagulls that are just sitting down there, I don't know if you can see them, where are they?

They're just there, see them? Let me see if I can, I can't go in, I can't go in. But those seagulls are there, and they've just got their own little private place. And all of a sudden, I was like, you can go from what can I take, to what can I take in. What can I take in around me? And here, of course, it's beautiful, they're putting on a little show for us. Oh my goodness. What can you take in? Are you in a place that you know we're just wanting to take but what can we stop and take in? And I just want to propose that obviously I know that everywhere where most of the audience is watching these incarcerated so you're not in this place. So it's hard to take in this except for through these videos. However, what is around you that you could take in? The voice of God? The kindness maybe of another? The ability to breathe? Maybe um you know I've been to some prisons where you know you look out and there's there's mountains or there's hills or there's desert with a sunrise coming up. What can you take in? Because I feel like as a society we're always going what can we take? What can we take? What can we take? When if we just stop God's got something he wants to show us. God's got something that he wants to give us that's not necessarily tangible in our hands but it's something for our soul. What can you take in through the word of God this morning? What can you take in through the voice of God this morning? For me I was rushing out of the door um getting ready to head home. I need to get home. We had family come and we we came down here and entertained uh for about five or six days and I'm like I just got to get home. But as I was driving home I turned I made a right turn and I was like you know I'm going to go to my favorite spot because I got to take in some Jesus because this week I just haven't had the opportunity to do that or haven't made the opportunity to do that created and taken the time to do that because there's just been a lot of busyness and entertaining and a lot of that just has to do with me. My inability to sit still and feel like I need to be serving somebody. But this morning I stopped and I said I just got to go take in and I said I just got to go take in something for my soul because my soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. They're they're hurting a little bit. They're a little bit tired. In some areas they're a little bit bitter, a little bit resentful. And this morning I was

just reminded to lift my head and to look around and to take in and to take a minute to take in instead of trying to take what's in it for me. Being resentful because you feel overworked or over not seen or taken advantage of and instead just stopping and just looking up and just breathing in the goodness of God, the beauty of God, the word of God. Like I said if you're not in a place close your eyes and let God take you there. Like seriously I know the power of the mind and I don't mean that to sound weird. I just mean I used to before I would compete in water skiing I would lay there and I would see myself winning. I would see myself. I would quiet my mind and I would focus and just close your eyes and pray and ask God to show you things. Ask God to take your emotions and your to give you things to take in. And he will. He's always speaking. He's always loving on us. It's just we're too resentful or we're too looking what can we take in take for ourselves that we're not taking in the beauty of what he wants to give us. And that's me here. Like this is one of the most beautiful places and I have not taken in anything this week. I've sat in the house and cooked and cleaned and not even taken the time to just go out and just say you know what I need to enjoy and take in some stuff that God wants me to have. And I realize you know we're in a world that is crazy. I know it's crazy. I only know from what I've seen and the letters that we get that your world is crazy. But it's crazy out here too. Even in a place like this it's crazy. We got houses about to fall in the ocean. There's people who've drowned out here. There's critters out there. I mean it's still crazy. Even in the little paradise there's things happening. We're never going to escape that. But wherever we are we have to be able to quiet our minds and take in what God wants to show us. He showed me yesterday, he's like, Christi, you really need to take in and slow down and start praying more and listening more because I have things I want to show you that I need you to take in for the direction of this ministry. And also, I mean, God has opened up this incredible opportunity to go to Africa and to go into prisons and he's like, you need to be prayed up, you need to be fasted up, because I realize that the things God wants me to take in, if I'm not clear in here and if I'm not, if I'm just looking around trying to see what I can take for this ministry or, you know, like, how can we, you know, expand, how can we do all these things, and God's like, I just need you to go and take in what I have for you. And that's a whole mindset that for someone who's a performer and someone who's always

wanting to achieve and expand and to do things, it's really hard for me, even in a place like this, to even take a moment and sit down and take in. And so I don't know if that's you today, I don't know if your mind's going a zillion places, I've caught my mind being very negative this week, very bitter this week, I don't like it. It's ugly. It's ugly on God's children. God is ugly on God's children. This is mine. This is mine. This is, you know, I'm being overlooked, I'm being taken advantage of, no one's listening to my feelings, all that kind of stuff, and it's ugly on God's children, and I'm tired of feeling like that, and I'm tired of, I'm tired of just not putting myself in a place to take in. And I can do that here. I do it more in a non-peaceful place, like when I'm in an airport or on an airplane and there's things all around me, and even when I'm in a prison and I'm going in and there's things happening all around me and things are going in disarray, I'm able to quiet my heart and mind and get in a place with God and take in what He wants to show me. And then I get out here, somewhere where it's absolutely beautiful, and I have the opportunity to just sit and take in, and I don't. So now I'm rambling, but I just wanted to give you that quote, give you that thought. Are you looking all around you to see what you can take? Are you looking up and taking in what God wants to show you? Taking in His beauty, taking in His voice, taking in His Word, taking in His promises. You know, this morning when I was walking, I don't even know if I can remember this song, but the Lord says to create new melodies in our heart. So I try to do that. When I'm walking or whatever, I'll just start singing something. And I said something like, you said, you will provide all my needs, and if you said it,

what is it? Oh shoot, now I can't remember, but it was something like, you said this, and then I would say it, you will provide all my needs according to your riches in Christ Jesus. And if you said it, you'll do it. It will happen. If you said it, you'll do it. It will happen. So you said, you'll supply all my needs, and if you said it, it'll happen. You'll do it. And it was just something like that. So then I was like, you said, you're going to like transform the lives of millions through this ministry. If you said it, it'll happen. You'll do it. That's not how it went. It was so much better. But it was just this little jingle. So then I was just thinking, Lord, what did you say? You said, you're going to save this person. You're going to meet them in this place, and you're going to bring them back to you. And if you said it, you'll do it. It'll happen. Or you said it, it'll happen, you'll do it or something. Somebody out there that writes music can do so much better. But yeah, so think about what do you need to take in today? Not what do you just need to take. What do you need to take in? What has God said to you? Has he said to you, I will strengthen you in this weary land? Well, if he said it, he'll do it.

It'll happen. Did he say that, did he show you one day you're going to be free or that your family's going to come back? If he said it, he'll do it. It'll happen. So what do you need to take in today? You need to get in the word of God. I need to get in the word of God and take in his promises. And then when it gets that chaos all around you, you already got that thing to take in and strengthen you. Because let me tell you, the enemy is wanting you, I need to start heading back, the enemy is wanting you to take in negativeness. What are you taking in? Man, I'm just going. all over the place today, but what are you taking in? I need to take in a beauty salon. Let's just do it this way. What are you taking in? This week I took in a lot of negative things, so you've got to capture your thoughts and make sure, it says that in Corinthians, that what you're taking in is godly. It's going to build you up. It's going to take you closer to God and not into a place of pride and isolation and ugliness. So I'm going to just close with that because my arm's just not doing good, but I do ask you guys to pray for our ministry, just like we're praying for you. We have a prayer wall. You're sending your prayer requests. We have a prayer wall. We have groups of churches coming in and praying over, sometimes two or three times, praying over your prayer tags and ask your questions because we try to address those in videos and things. So send your questions and connect with us. Please connect with us and don't forget, if there is a pdf attached to this, make sure you look at it because you could leave small groups. You can go deeper in your study and take in more, but you can also help people take in the promises of God. Let's take that in for a minute. Don't we wish we had some french fries that we could feed them and feed ourselves? All right, Father, I thank you for these beautiful people that are watching. I thank you, Lord, for the reminder today. You're saying, lift your head, weary traveler. I have so much I want to show you,

so much that I need you to take in, but we can't take in. You can't take in. I can't take in. If we're looking down, if we're trying to see what's in it for me, if our thoughts are negative, we're taking in the voices of the devil, the liar, the person of chaos. That's who Satan is, and if that's what we're feeling in our hearts today, we need to stop, and God is saying, weary traveler, lift up your head because I have much to show you. I have much that I want you to take in. I have much that I want to do in your life to strengthen you and to use you, but you have to move from taking to taking in, and, Lord, I ask that you help me. I ask that you help our team. I ask that you help every person that is watching to be able to settle their hearts and mind and just be focused on the one thing that truly matters, and that's you. In Jesus' name, amen. Y'all, I am going to Africa in less than two weeks. In a week and a half, I'm going with Jack Brewer Foundation, and I am so excited to travel with Jack and his team, and if you don't know about that beautiful, beautiful ministry, Jack Brewer Foundation, you need to learn more about that, but I'm super excited about going with him and his team, and also, while I'm there, I'm going to end up in Kenya, and I'm going to tell you all about that trip and how God got me there. That was a God thing, but I'm going to be in prisons outside of Nairobi, in a men's prison, a medium prison, and a women's prison, and going to a kid's camp, a sports camp, and get to speak, and I just believe God's got a lot that He wants me to take in, and so I ask that He be praying for me, for my safety, but also for my spirit to be settled so I can take in what God wants to do through victorious living in those areas, and also in this area of the United States and in Mexico, where He's expanded the magazine, and so we've also been expanded to Sheridan's creating wellness training for chaplains, and our heart is to do that for the staff as well, to bring the goodness of God and the wholeness of God to the corrections community, so I just ask that you join us in praying for that, and yeah, love you guys very much, and I pray that you have a wonderful day. Bye. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondence, P.O. Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina 27836, or email us at hope at vlmag.org. To view Victorious Living Magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098 or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living Magazine free of charge, in bulk, with or

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